Could I get some opinions?

[Redline]

I have been keeping FW for about 10yrs, most everything included, as well as a few years of breeding angels. I am fairly meticulous regarding my tanks and i figure thats not a bad trait to have with discus.

As this is going to be the showpeice of my living room, I am going to try a 75g (size limitations) planted tank with about a 2-3" layer of 3M color quartz "sand" (2-3mm) on top of 1-2" of flourite. CO2 injection, 4x65w VHO flourescents, and debating on which filter to get...everyone seems to like the simplistic aquaclears or marineland (penguin with biowheel)...will they seriously do as good of a job as a canister or wet/dry?

I am meticulous, but i also have other things to do, so i plan on doing 1-2 wc a week...how much at a time?

I would like to have 4-6 discus, a school of cardinals or other tetras, a few corys, and a few ottocinclus. I guess since i am starting with a "show" tank, i read here that I should probably start with 3-4" discus or can i start with juveniles? Also, do they do better in pairs or trios? Do strains of discus tend to stay together or do they all intermingle? I think the end result would be two pairs of fully grown adults

I think that is the plan as of now...hopefully i can finish the details after some thoughts from everyone here, and get started!

I guess my biggest questions are what filter to use to sufficiently filter a planted 75g (type and brand), and then what size, and number of discus given my other parameters.

Thanks alot to everyone in advance, this board is such a great help!

[funkyfish]

i would get atleast 6 and if u have no experience with discus u mite want to try a B/B tank first they can be tricky.with that size tank with the fish u want i would do atlest 50% 4 times a week. on my 75 i do atleast 30% daily some times 50%.discus don't care what coulor they are they will get along just the same. iwould go with adults in a planted tank. eather way welcome to the sickness
good luck

[fshngal]

6, 4-5" discus would be best for starters. They are already somewhat grown and won't require maximum water changes as the 3" would. As for the mix of fish, cardinals survive much better than something like a neon tetra in a discus tank and the water temp should be 82 on up.

The lighting may be a bit strong, don't let the LFS sell you the most exotic.

Best of luck with you new tank.

Mary

[KIWI13]

Sounds like you got enough experience to get yourself some adults if your little piggy bank permits it. I think you can handle em no problems cause discus arent that difficult, It just needs you to be well organised and as long as they have clean water and eat well, you should have no problems. Don't get babies in a planted but anything up from 3.5 inches should do just fine...

Good Luck

Jason

[kaceyo]

I agree with Mary on the lighting being too much for discus. You could cut that in half and still grow most of the plants that will go well in a discus tank. Also the bigger (older) the discus the better when buying for a planted tank. I'd think a minimum of 5 fish as discus do best in groups. Personaly I dont care for canister fiters as they are more labor intensive than HOB's and can go anarobic quickly during power outages. A trickle filter would be fine but be aware that they reduce CO2 in the trickle section. I'd go with an HOB and maybe try a home made wet/dry to see how it worked on a planted tank. HTH

Kacey